A Short Earth Day Observation

While he was still running for president, Rick Santorum made a statement that got him pilloried and lampooned by the usual suspects. Santorum said that Obama believed in a pagan theology that taught that man exists to serve the earth. Like I said, Santorum was mocked for that observation but in truth he was spot on.  And what's frightening is that many people, not just Obama, are believers in the pagan environmentalist "creed" that the earth is higher than man. For these people nature, not Yahweh, is their god, and they will countenance any amount of human suffering to ensure the survival and purity of that "god". Bible-believing Christians do not and cannot subscribe to this false theology.  But as Earth Day brings environmental concerns to the forefront for 24 hours, just what should be the correct Christian position on environmentalism, the planet, and being "green"?   

Whether out of a misguided effort to be relevant or as a result of pagan infiltration into the Church, some Christians have gotten completely into green theology.  A couple of years ago, for example, some Australian clergy issued a declaration that believers should have fewer children because large families rob resources from future generations.  I cringed when I heard that on the news.  Pure paganism, to my mind.  Still, there needs to be a Christian response to environmentalism, and I think there is one, if we'd just look at Scripture.

I think the Christian answer to pagan, the-earth-is-god, environmentalism is Biblical conservationism, or "eco-stewardship".  It's right there in the book of Genesis, if we'd open our eyes to see it.  The first book of the Bible tells us that God created man in His own image and gave him dominion over the nature.  That dominion, however, is NOT a license to rape the planet for Scripture also informs us that "the earth is the Lord's."  Man is not the creator, God is.  Man did not make nature and, consequently, has no right to destroy or misuse nature.  Nature is God's gift to man for his survival. Man can use nature to meet his needs but he can't abuse nature as it is God's possession,  just like man himself.  God put man into the Garden of Eden to care for it, not destroy it.  Therefore, I feel that it's obligatory on believers to love and protect nature out of gratitude to God for His provision and not to serve nature itself.  That, in a nutshell, is my view of Biblical conservationism or "eco-stewardship".  Yes, Christians can "save the planet" without worshiping it.


Happy Earth Day.